It is no surprise to say that birds are messy feeders. Conventional bird feeders produce uneaten seeds below the feeder along with an accumulation of seed hulls. Some birds willingly eat from the feeder but will not scratch through mounds of seed hulls under the feeder looking for uneaten seeds. Even if the birds sift through the seed hulls looking for uneaten seeds, the scattered seed hulls create an unsightly and often unsanitary condition.
In addition, the accumulation of uneaten seeds creates an attraction for unwanted creatures such as squirrels, raccoons and other varmints. It is accordingly not surprising that attempts have been made in the prior art to provide bird feeders which accumulate uneaten seeds and discarded seed hulls such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,450,175; 2,591,459; 5,095,847 and 6,405,673. Other disclosures of interest are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,732,112; 5,479,879; 5,634,429 and 5,655,477.